Don't Stop Believing | Journey Part 1

Four months ago I began this elaborate plan to get him from work one day and sweep him off on an adventure that he would never suspect.

And yesterday was the day.

It all started out just like normal with the get-up-and-go-to-work-and-school routine.
But later that morning he emailed me to let me know he was going home to work early. He has to work on Saturday and they're cutting back on overtime so they were letting him have an early afternoon to adjust for the difference.

So like a good wife I suggested he use the afternoon off to mow the yard since it's getting on the long-ish side.

And since my ramen noodles weren't sounding appealing I suggested he fix up some chicken and bacon and we'd make some salads for lunch and I'd just drive home and eat with him before he mowed the yard.

Except, unbeknownst to him, I was actually leaving at noon to go on home and meet him there, instead of the 1:00 lunchtime that I usually have, but had supposedly traded for a 12:30 lunchtime.

So when he got home, I already had the chicken cooked, the bacon fried and cut up and the salads all but topped with dressing.

"I got away a few minutes early", I explained, since we supposedly were both leaving work at 12:30.

So we ate our salads and I'm trying to figure out how to get him into the car and down the road without having to completely spoil the surprise so I decide that when he goes to change into his work clothes (for mowing the yard) I'll tag him in a Facebook post letting him know he's being kidnapped for the day. (He knew that I'd been planning a surprise scheduled for some time between May and the end of the year, but had no idea what, when or where).

So I dashed to the computer when he went to change and typed it in.

I heard his phone go off and a moment later I heard the phone being sat down on the night-stand, but nothing else.

After realizing that he hadn't read his message, I walked into the bathroom off our room (where he was) and casually mentioned that it sounded like his phone went off.

After he checked it he comes in, cheesing, "Are you serious?"

Ever the Innocent, "What?" I asked him.

"It's today? Are you serious?"

"Well, yeah, how do you think you got off work at 12:30?"

He looked momentarily confused, "But that made too much sense..."

Silly boy, he should know that I know what I'm doing! If I'm going to surprise him it's going to have to be because everything leading up to it makes sense!

Giving as few details as possible (and the impression that we were just going to hang out in Little Rock for the evening, we loaded into the car and he started trying to decide on where to go and what to do and where to eat.

With a general plan of eating somewhere and going by Toys-R-Us, Game XChange, and possibly watching Planet of the Apes, I goofed his plans up by 'accidentally' taking the exit for the Little Rock Airport...and then again when I headed towards Memphis instead of back towards Little Rock.

It was when the GPS said "Continue on for 117 miles" that he realized Little Rock was never the plan.

So he started peppering me with questions. Where were we going? What were we doing? What was the plan? Where were we eating (food is a priority in our family)?

And I smiled like the cat that ate the canary and just kept driving.

After a while he dug his phone out and was playing around on it. When I saw him quickly put his phone in his lap and then hide it in the handle of the door (while wearing a cheesy grin) I asked him what was up.

After a moment's hesitation he finally handed over his phone showing where he went to Memphis's website and scrolled down their events and found that Journey & Foreigner were going to be in concert that evening.

Instead of being mean (so very tempting if you know me!) I pulled his tickets out and handed them to him.

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About The Author

AshleyWife & Mom

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Ashley is a thirty-something wife and mother of two boys. She enjoys spending time with her family, as well as reading and decorating their home. Her blogging adventures began in 2006 as a single mother and have carried on through marriage and a new life with a husband, a teenager, and a pre-schooler.